This morning we took a boat ride around the waterfront of Istanbul to see the sights from a different angle. We found out that there are different parts of Istanbul, on the European continent and on Asia across the Bosphorus Strait from each other. It was amazing to see how big the city is. Someone told us that there are over 30 million people living there, no wonder it’s so crowded.
There were so many things we could see from the boat – castles, fortresses, palaces, summer estates, even a suspension bridge. One of the sights we saw from the water, that we thought was fascinating was the walls of the Rumelihisari Fortress that was built during the Ottoman years.
After we got off the boat we found a very interesting market bazaar. We heard it was called a Spice Bazaar.
There was all sorts stores with spices, teas, smoked meats, pottery, scarves, gift items and even chess sets made of ivory.
While touring in Istanbul we heard about a Roman subterranean cistern built to provide water for the Topkapi Palace. We went down to take a look at it. It is amazing, and so hard to believe that building something like this in the 3rd or 4th centuries was possible. We learned that it took about 7,000 slaves to build it and it’s so big, about 9,800 square meters and can hold about 80,000 cubic meters of water, gathered from rain.
Our last stop of the day, and our visit to Istanbul, was to see the Hagia Sophia Grand Mosque. They had really strict rules about taking pictures, but we got a few discrete pictures although couldn’t get any of us (that’s a no-no). This mosque was built in the Byzantine times, between 532 and 537.
It wasn’t always a mosque, it started as a cathedral then became a mosque in 1453. We were able to see some of the mosaics of from the time when it was a cathedral including one of Jesus with Mary and John the Baptist (at one time they ha$ been painted over but have since been revealed for the public to view.
Well, our travels are about to come to an end for now, it’s time to say goodbye to our friends and pack up our things. We’ll be heading off to the airport in a few short hours.
We hope you’ve enjoyed following along on our journeys and hope you’ll stay tuned for our next adventure.
Well Behaved Kids Travel 